Corner-joint for vehicle-bodies.



No. 69I',027. Patented Ian. l4, I902.

J. F. WATTS.

CORNER JOINT FDR VEHICLE BODIES.

(Application filed. Jan 24, 1900.)

4N0 Model.)

Price.

Persist JAMES F. WATTS, OF \VADSWORTH, OHIO.

CORNER-JOINT FOR VEHICLE-BODIES.

$PLECIFIGA1ION forming part or" Letters Patent No. 691,027, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed January 24, 1900. Serial No. 2,655. \No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. VATTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wadsworth, in the county of Medina and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Corner- Joint for Vehicle-Bodies, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to corner-joints for vehicle-bodies; and the object in view is to provide such a joint as to render practicable the employment of a corner post of hard wood so constructed with reference to the bottom sills and panels of the vehicle-body as to permit the panels to be united thereto flush with the outer exposed surface of the corner-post, the postalso being provided with means adapting it to interfit and interlock with the bottom sills and also having provision whereby the sillsand post may be properly positioned with respect to each other and fastened together. The panels are so constructed and related to the sills that the panels may be fastened directly to the sills in addition to their being fastened directly to the post. The invention also contemplates means for preventing the corner-post from splitting adjacent to the narrow neck formed by the rabbets in which the vertical edges of the panels are fitted, and said means consist of diagonal reinforcing-pins which are inserted into the post and which have a firm engagement with the wood of the post at opposite sides of the narrow neck formed by the panel-rabbets. When the corner-joint is completed, only the corner-post and panels are exposed to view, the sills and the bottom and all of the fasteners being concealed.

With the above and other objects in view, which will be better understood as the description proceeds, the invention consists in a corner'joint for vehicle-bodies embodying certain novel features and details of construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a corner-joint constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken in line with one of the reinforcing-pins. Fig. 3 is an irregular cross-section taken in line with the fastening-screws which secure adjacent panels to the corner-post. Fig. tie a detail perspective view of the corner-post with the panelsomittedandshowingthebottom sills. Fig. 5 is a bottom ,plan View of the corner-joint.

Similarnumeralsofreference designate corresponding parts in all figures of the drawings.

The construction of corner-joint contemplated in this invention comprises, essentially, a cornerpost 10 which primarily is substantially triangular in cross-section and which for the purpose of receiving the edges of adjoining panels is provided with rabbets ll extending longitut'linally thereof from end to end, as shown in Fig. 4, thus providing an outer rounded portion 12, which forms the corner of the vehicle-body, bounded at either side by the rabbets 11, the floors or bases 13 and 14 of which lie at right angles to each other. The panels 16 have their vertical edges beveled or chamfered, as shown at '17, and the grooves or rabbets are correspondingly undercut, as shown, to'receive the chamfered edges of the panels. The panels 16 are secured firmly against the floors 13 and 14c of the grooves or rabbets 11 by means of wood-screws 18 and 19, which are countersunk in the panels, as shown in Fig. 3, and covered by means of wooden disks or plugs 20, finished off flush with the other surface of the panels. The screws 18 and 19 are also arranged in staggered relation, so as to dodge each other and avoid the tendency to split the inner portion of the post. Other screws pass through the lower portions of the panels into the bottom sills 22, as will be apparent by comparing Figs. 1 and 4, in which it will be seen that the plugs 20, covering the lower screws, are arranged in the horizontal plane of the bottom sills 22 and also farther away from .the corner of the vehicle-body.

The bottom sills 22, which support the bottom of the vehicle-body, intersect and overlap each other, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and are firmly connected together by means of a screw or other suitable fastener, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The bot-tom sills at their point of intersection are further provided with vertical registering mortises 23 for the purpose of receiving a tenon 2i, projecting downward from the lower end of the post, the said tenon being formed by reducing the lower end of the post to the shape illustrated in, Fig. 5, in which thecrosssectional shape of the inner portion of the post is illustrated by the dotted line 25. The tenon 24, while extending the full width of the post in one direction, is comparatively thin, adapting it to receive a screw or other suitable fastener which may be passed therethrough into one or both of the overlapping portions of the bottom sills. In forming the tenon 24 a shoulder 26 is provided, adapted to rest upon the intersecting portions of the sills22 and properly position the post and sills with respect to each other. This construction also gives an opportunity for passing a screw or bolt upward through the overlapping portions of the sills into the shoulder 26 of the post. The outer surface of the tenon 24 is in the same plane with the outer surfacesof one of the floors 13 or 14 of the rabbets in the cornerpost and constitutes, in fact, a downward continuation of such floor, the adjacent panel extending entirely to the bottom of the post and to the bottom of the tenon 24, thereby concealing the bottom sills and the edges of the vehicle-body bottom, the only break or line of division visible being at the junction of the panels with the other portion 12 of the corner-post, which serves to protect the verticaledges of the panels and exclude moisture which would tend to swell and warp the panels.

In order to guard against the splitting of the corner-posts along the line of the narrow neck formed by rabbeting the corner-post, reinforcing-pins 21 are inserted diagonally into the corner-post at points near the top and bottom thereof and also at intermediate points, if desirable, which reinforcing-pins are provided with means, preferably in the form of threads or barbs, for obtaininga firm hold upon the inner and outer portions of the post at opposite sides of the narrow neck, thus preventing the post from splitting along the weakened portion thereof. The reinforcing-pins 21 by preference extend only partially through the post, just far enough to obtain a secure hold upon the wood of the post at opposite sides of the narrow weakened portion, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

By means of the construction hereinabove described it is practicable to utilize a wooden corner-post in forming the corner-joint of a fastened together and the splitting of the corner-posts rendered impossible by reason of the diagonally-arranged reinforcing-pins.

The employment of hard wood in the manu- I facture of the corner-posts effects a considerable saving in the production of the joint, for the reason that the wood. may be easily worked up into the proper form and the grooves or rabbets planed with the sides of the posts.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A corner-joint, for vehicle-bodies, comprising a hard-wood corner-post having longitu-. dinal rabbets extending from end to end there of, and also provided at its lower end with a terminal shoulder and a projecting tenon, the outer surface of which forms a continuation of the floor of one of the rabbets, intersecting bottom sills mortised to receive the tenon, said sills abutting against the shoulder on the post at the base of the tenon, side and end panels extending the entire height of the post and concealing the bottom sills, fasteners passing through the panels into the post, other fasteners passing through the panels into the bottom sills, and diagonal reinforcing-pins inserted in the post, and having a firm engagement with the wood at opposite sides of the narrow neck formed by the panelrabbets.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES F. \VATTS.

WVitnesses:

E. S. PARDEE, JOHN H. DURLING. 

